Final Resort (10 page)

“What is it, Mr. Goren?”

“If you do find it, could
I be in on the discovery?” His eyes shone. “If I could be credited as helping find a gem like that, then...” He shrugged. “It would mean a lot to me, that’s all.”

Ava clasped his forearm. “Of course. And if we do find it, we’ll make sure you get back what you’re owed and then some. I promise.”

Goren’s mouth crooked in a slight smile. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”

“Mr. Goren, while
you’re here, would you mind looking at a set of pearls for me? I’ve had them for years and I wondered about their value,” Sue said.

“Of course,” he said, eyes shining. “I’d be happy to.” They left together and Luca sidled up to Ava.

“How are you holding up?”

She shrugged. “I’m tired.”

“I can imagine.” They made small talk for a while, but Luca could see it was an effort for
her. Sue and Goren returned, still talking about pearls.

“I’m sorry to tell you they aren’t genuine,” Goren was saying.

Sue smiled. “That’s okay. At least now I know for sure.”

Goren crossed to the door, but it opened before he got there. Sergeant Towers appeared, hair speckled with snow.

He greeted them and jutted his chin at Luca. “I took a look at the logs on my way up.
You were lucky you got out of that with only a bang on the head.”

Luca saw something in the cop’s face that made his nerves jump. “Right, lucky.”

Towers’s gaze roamed the group. “While you’re all here, I’ve got some news about the Taser.” He wiped his boots on the mat and came farther into the room.

“You found out who owns it?” Ava said.

“Yes, we sure did. It’s amazing how
much information you can glean from a tiny piece of metal. Good thing you picked it up, Mr. Gage.”

Luca had the feeling the cop was enjoying his moment in center stage. He did not press, but Ava was not so patient.

“Who does it belong to?” she demanded.

Towers looked around the room before he settled on Goren. “Would you like to tell us about your Taser, Mr. Goren?”

THIRTEEN

A
va watched the color drain from Goren’s face. This was the man who had killed her uncle? This quiet, unassuming jeweler whom she had felt sorry for a moment before?

Goren sank down into the chair. “This is not happening. It cannot be happening.”

Ava felt Luca’s arm circle her shoulders, the fingers squeezing some reality back into her body.
Just listen,
the
touch seemed to say.
We’ll sort it all out.
She took comfort in the gesture as all eyes turned to stare at Goren, who was now visibly shaking.

“It’s mine,” he whispered.

Towers adjusted the cuff of his jacket. “The Taser is yours, yes. We have the purchase information. Mr. Goren, did you abduct Miss Stanton’s uncle?”

Goren jerked and looked at Towers. “No. The Taser was stolen from
my shop.”

“There’s no police report to that effect.”

He shook his head. “I didn’t realize it was gone until later, but there was a break-in. You’ve got it on your records.”

Towers nodded. “You called in a burglary a few days ago. We sent an officer to take a report. Broken glass on the outside door. No major damage inside. The place was rifled, you said, but none of the jewelry
was taken, just some petty cash from the register.”

“And my Taser,” he moaned. “I never should have gotten that thing in the first place, but Paul said...”

“What?” Ava snapped. “What did he say?”

“When he came to me for money to help him buy the storage unit, he said that the contents had to be kept safe, that people would kill for it. He was convinced we were getting our hands
on something priceless.” Goren snorted. “Of course, he never trusted me to keep the treasure here anyway. I never even got to lay eyes on the contents. He kept it himself, except for a few pieces that he showed me.”

Ava exchanged a look with Luca. Hidden under the trailer until he or someone else moved it.

The red-spattered jacket came to mind again. Ava was sure if Paul was going to
hide something, he would do it right here, at Whisper Mountain. She pulled her attention back to Towers.

“To be clear, Mr. Goren, you believe whoever broke into your store took the Taser and used it to abduct Paul.”

Goren nodded.

“And you didn’t call us later on to tell us your Taser had been taken?”

“I didn’t see the point,” Goren said. “I figured it was gone and got myself
an old shotgun for protection instead.”

“Do you know what troubles me?” Towers said. “Why go to the effort of an abduction in broad daylight? With the potential for witnesses? Why the urgency?”

Ava thought for a moment. “Because the abductor found out Uncle Paul was meeting me, and the secret would be out of the bag.” Her stomach twisted. “So whoever it was knew Paul well, knew he was
going to meet me at Melody Lake.”

Sue shook her head. “He didn’t say anything while he was here about going to meet you. I didn’t even know you were in town until I heard about what happened to Paul.”

Goren sighed. “I didn’t hear anything, either. I’m not sure Paul ever told me one true thing in all the years I knew him.”

“I believe he did,” Towers said. “He told you people would
kill for whatever he found. He was right about that.”

A chill wriggled up Ava’s spine. She left Towers to go over the particulars with Goren again and escaped to the kitchen. The yellow curtains and the old chipped cookie jar reminded her of her mother. The irony was strong in the cheerful hues she always chose, in such contrast to the dark shadows that she could not shake.

“It’s got
claws into me, Ava, and I can’t get away, no matter what I do.”

Would depression take possession of her, too? Ava wondered. Would she see the world through joyless eyes one day? Uncle Paul, for all his bad qualities, had always shown her the bright side of life, the optimistic, wide-eyed wonder with which he viewed things. The world was indeed his oyster, and she was the pearl, or so he’d
told her.

Luca cleared his throat. “Ava?”

She grabbed a mug and fixed herself some tea. Tears welled up, but she blinked them away. “Do you think Goren is telling the truth?”

Luca shrugged. “I don’t know. The break-in isn’t a lie. The police can attest to that.”

“Someone knew about our meeting. It could have been someone at Peak Season. Bully maybe? A visitor we don’t know
about?”

Luca gazed out at the heavy curtain of snow. “Maybe someone had access to his phone and checked his texts.”

They watched Towers return to his car and head off slowly into the falling snow.

Sue joined them and fetched a glass of water for Goren. “He doesn’t look very good. I think he’d better sit for a while before he tries to drive back.”

“Sue, are you sure there wasn’t
anyone else who could have heard Paul talk about meeting me? Or gotten hold of his phone and seen the text he sent?”

She scrunched up her face. “There’s no one here at Whisper, no one who could have heard.” She hurried back out with the water.

“That’s not quite right,” Ava said, seeing the same conclusion in Luca’s face. “There were two people here. Sue and her husband.”

“What do
you know about Sue?”

Ava thought a moment. “Paul met Sue decades ago when she sang at a concert in Texas, I think. She was really into music and wanted to sing professionally. Paul helped her along for a while and she came with him to Whisper. Mom and Dad hired her on as a caretaker, and she’s been here ever since.”

“Things between her and Paul didn’t work out, I take it?”

Ava sighed.
“I thought they would get married. He used to call her his blackbird.”

“What happened?”

“I’m not sure. I know Sue has a son. He was a young teen when she and Paul were an item. Uncle Paul always said God didn’t give him children for a good reason. I think he was scared of the responsibility. She married Harold a few years ago. He’s been working on the mountain for twenty years, and my
father trusted him.”

“Do you?”

She met Luca’s gaze. “I don’t know. He was always quiet, reticent almost and never a fan of my uncle. He kept to himself and stayed away from the guests. He can fix anything. He used to keep that horrible old Mack truck Uncle Paul owned running. That’s the one thing they could talk about without sniping at each other.”

Ava felt suddenly overwhelmed.
“Luca, if it is here, this treasure, how am I ever going to find it?”

He flashed her an arrogant smile that made her stomach tighten, just as it had when they were teens.

“Didn’t I mention that I’m an expert treasure hunter?”

She smiled back. “I believe you did, but this might be too much even for your legendary skills.”

“No way,” he said. “I’m invincible.”

“That’s good
to know because we need something going for us right now.” She didn’t know why she’d used the word
we.
She busied herself rinsing the mug, hoping he hadn’t noticed.

“First thing we should do it search his room. That’s the obvious place to start.”

Sue appeared in the doorway looking frazzled. “We’ve got a little problem,” she said.

* * *

Luca crunched out in the snow. It was
nearly dusk and the heavy bank of clouds made it even darker. He held a flashlight to Goren’s tire.

“Flat, all right.”

“Do you have a spare?” Ava asked.

“Doesn’t matter,” Sue said. “All four are flat.”

Luca could not tell exactly how the damage was done, but it was true that all the tires had been flattened.

He looked around, unable to see any footprints, and cast an eye
to the tree line. “Has your husband returned yet, Sue?”

“Yes, he got back a few minutes ago.” She frowned. “Why do you ask?”

Luca shrugged. “No reason, other than we’re going to have to find a place for Mr. Goren to bunk for the night.”

“No need for that,” Goren said. “Can’t someone else drive me back to town?”

“Not in this weather,” Luca said. “You’re stuck here until morning.”

They returned to the lodge, and Luca caught her arm, letting Sue and Goren go ahead. “Ava, I want you to be careful. Don’t go out walking around on your own and keep your door locked tonight,” he whispered in her ear, the soft strands of hair tickling his cheek. He pressed closer, maybe closer than was strictly necessary. “Something is going on.”

“Do you think Harold slashed the tires?”
she whispered back. “Why would he do that?”

“I have no idea. It could be someone else, but why? Anger? To keep him here overnight? It makes no sense.”

She’d started to shiver, so he guided her inside.

“We’ll make up the spare room for you, Mr. Goren,” Sue was saying. “It’s not more than a cot, really, but it’s warm enough. I’ll fix us sandwiches and soup for dinner. Will that suit
everyone?”

Stephanie and Tate entered in a swirl of snow with Mack Dog trotting behind.

“That’s some storm,” Tate said.

Luca nodded and gestured for them to follow him into the family room where he filled them in on the police visit and the disabled car.

Tate frowned. “I don’t like it.”

“Me, neither,” Luca said. “Why don’t you strong-arm Mack Dog into staying with Ava
tonight.”

“You got it,” Tate said.

Stephanie’s brown eyes sparkled. “Victor found some info for us about the Danson family.”

“How did he do that so fast?” Ava said.

“Victor is a whirlwind when he’s interested in something.”

“So what do you have?”

“The Danson family had roots in Belgium. John’s great-grandfather worked at the university there as a gardener. While they
were there, they came into possession of the Sunset Star.”

“How does a gardener get a pearl like that?” Tate asked.

“That’s the romantic part,” Stephanie said. “He married into a wealthy family. His wife, Elizabeth, was smitten by the humble gardener who left roses on her windowsill every day. The Sunset Star was part of the dowry, you could say. It came along with Elizabeth.”

“Anything else?”

Stephanie shifted. “Well, here’s the tricky part. When the Germans looted the university, the Dansons apparently fled. The university was leveled, and the library burned as was Elizabeth’s family estate. Both her parents were killed. Fast forward twelve years and the next thing we know, the Dansons are installed in a luxurious home in New York which they own along with the
estate in California.”

Luca frowned. “So where did they get the money for that if they lost everything?”

“Exactly the question,” Stephanie said. “Victor thinks they sold the pearl. There’s an obscure reference in a French newspaper about a socialite seen wearing a pink pearl brooch around that same time.”

Ava groaned. “If they sold it, how would Uncle Paul have gotten it out of
the storage unit?”

Luca shook his head. “I don’t know. Any ideas?”

“Could be it wasn’t really sold. Victor could be wrong.”

Luca huffed. His brother was rarely wrong. It was one of the things that he both admired and found irritating at times.

“Okay. Will you stay on it, Steph?”

“Of course,” she said. “I’m going to pull an all-nighter. With this storm, it’s going to be
impossible to sleep anyway.”

“What are you going to do?” Tate asked.

Luca exchanged a look with Ava. “We’re going to do a little searching after dinner, maybe go through Paul’s things if we can find any.”

Ava nodded, and he saw the flash of emotion in her eyes. It would be hard for her to face the task so soon after losing him.

Sue called them to the kitchen, and he took Ava’s
hand.

“I can search by myself if it’s too much,” he said. He saw her lips tighten, velvet-pink, just as enticing as they’d seemed the first time he met her a decade before. For a fleeting second he wondered what it would feel like to kiss those lips.

“I can do it,” Ava said.

He matched her determined stride, still thinking about that kiss.

* * *

Dinner was a quick affair
although he had to restrain his food snob tendencies. The vegetable soup Sue warmed would have benefited from the addition of fresh rosemary or even a rind of parmesan thrown in for flavor. Good training prevailed, and he ate the soup and sandwich with a smile on his face and a thank-you for Sue. Tate ate two bowls, once again surprising Luca with his ability to cheerfully devour anything put in
front of him. That would serve him well because Stephanie had no idea how to even boil an egg.

Luca helped clear the dishes and found himself handing dirty plates to Goren, who had rolled up his sleeves and set to work in a sink full of water. He didn’t encourage conversation, washing methodically and handing the dishes to Luca who dried while the women wrapped leftover food and cleared the
table.

Goren seemed lost in thought. Luca figured he was pondering who had disabled his vehicle and why.

Good questions. He’d left a message for Sergeant Towers, but the wind had picked up power, now blowing the snow into swirls of white against the black sky. There was no way anyone was coming up that mountain tonight.

No, it would be just the seven of them, unless someone else
was holed up on Whisper Mountain.

He turned to Sue. “Did Uncle Paul have any favorite spots here at the lodge? Any places he frequented often?”

Sue gave him a smile. “Should I call you Sherlock?”

He bowed. “At your service, madam,” he said in an unconvincing English accent.

Her laugh was high, mingled with the storm that moaned and screeched outside. “Well, Sherlock, Paul was
a roamer. He wandered everywhere, the pine groves, the toboggan run, even climbed up the gondola shed to take in the view. I wouldn’t say he favored any one spot, though.” A glimmer of sadness crossed her face. “He never settled anywhere for long.”

That didn’t exactly narrow the search grid any, Luca thought. Stephanie’s arched eyebrow told him she’d come to the same conclusion.

Harold
finished putting batteries into hefty flashlights and handed one to each of them. “We’ll probably lose power. Got a backup generator, but it doesn’t kick in right away and sometimes I’ve got to fiddle with it.” He paused. “The basement.”